Tag Archives: Eco-terrorism

“Whale Wars,” which chronicles dramatic high-seas clashes
between Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Japanese whalers,
will be reduced to a two-hour television special this year. The
program will run on Dec. 13 on the Animal Planet network.

For five years, the program was produced as a weekly series. But
we knew things were changing a year ago when Sea Shepherd decided
to hire its own videographers instead of using an independent film
crew associated with Animal Planet. Check out
Water Ways, June 11, 2013.

Normally, the anti-whaling campaign ran through the summer
whaling season in the Antarctic, generally from December into
February or March. The series then followed each year in June. But
this year the production was delayed, and it was hard to find out
when the program would air or in what format.

Brian Eley, vice president of communications for Animal Planet,
sent out a
news release this morning explaining the new format with these
highlights:

Capt. Paul Watson, the leader of Sea Shepherd, is no longer
in charge of the anti-whaling campaign at sea. He was ordered by
federal courts in the U.S. to keep his vessels back from the
Japanese whaling ships. As I’ve reported, the campaign was turned
over to Sea Shepherd Australia, which the organization contends is
outside the jurisdiction of the U.S. courts.

“Leaderless and without Watson’s vast experience in
aggressively engaging the whalers at sea, the Sea Shepherds are at
a crossroads. Which one of the Sea Shepherds will take the mantle
of leader and guide the group as they embark on their dangerous
mission ‘to die for the whales?’”

Four captains are assigned to Sea Shepherd’s fleet,
consisting of the Steve Irwin with Siddarth “Sid” Chakravarty at
the helm; Bob Barker with Peter Hammarstedt; the trimaran Brigitte
Bardot with Jean Yves Terlan; and the newest ship Sam Simon with
Luis Manuel Pinho.

The actions of one of the rookie captains lead to tensions
among the crew and the early retreat of one of the vessels, while
another captain “makes a major decision that nearly causes a
mutiny.”

Update, 5:30
p.m.: Brian Eley told me in an email that this year’s
production was especially challenging. Animal Planet remained
committed to following that actions of Sea Shepherd in the Southern
Ocean, he said, but with all the “legal complexities” surrounding
the organization, Animal Planet looked for an alternative to the
formula used over the previous five years.

“We’re actually using
the Sea Shepherds’ legal issues as a storytelling device in the
special,” Brian said. “And because the Sea Shepherds’ shot the
footage themselves, there was a delay in getting and then
evaluating the thousands of hours of footage, so the series was
delayed to this fall. What happened during their campaign was a
story that made sense to produce as a two-hour special, not a
multi-episode series.”

In another change this year, Animal Planet will offer a
“ground-breaking, immersive online experience,” according to the
news release. Included will be photos, video, interactive graphics
and sound to produce a “powerful narrative that tells the tale of
Watson and the Sea Shepherds, while also offering the perspective
of the Japanese whalers whom they confront.” The new website will
launch shortly before the television special.

Coincidentally, Watson and other members of Sea Shepherd are
making an appearance this week in the U.S. Court of Appeals in
Seattle, where they have argued that their actions did not violate
the injunction issued last year. Reporter Gene Johnson wrote the
story for
The Associated Press.

In an interview with
Agence France-Presse, Watson said one of the reasons he took
the risk of being arrested this week was because he has not seen
his granddaughter in 15 months. “So that was the most important
thing about coming back.”

The next campaign in
the Southern Ocean, still under the direction of Sea Shepherd
Australia, is scheduled to begin on Dec. 1, according to
Watson.

There’s still no word
if Animal Planet will be involved in another “Whale Wars”
television series or special.

Kozinski, chief judge for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals,
concluded in a ruling today that U.S. District Judge Richard Jones
had made “numerous, serious and obvious errors” when he declined to
issue an injunction against Sea Shepherd for its high-seas battle
against Japanese whalers.

The three-judge panel ordered that the case be removed from
Jones’ jurisdiction and turned over to another Seattle district
judge drawn at random.

Meanwhile, the Institute of Cetacean Research — the Japanese
whaling organization — continues its effort to get a
contempt-of-court citation issued against Sea Shepherd, which has
increased its efforts to disrupt Japanese whaling in the Southern
Ocean.

Sea Shepherd remains under a U.S. Court of Appeals injunction,
which requires that the organization’s ships operate safely and
stay 500 yards away from the Japanese vessels.

I’ll provide an update on Sea Shepherd’s activities in a
separate blog post, but let me first tell you more about Kozinski’s
ruling (PDF 238 kb), which finds nothing commendable about any
of Sea Shepherd’s actions.

Well, it’s that time of year again. The Japanese whaling fleet
is headed toward the Antarctic to kill whales, and Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society is waiting with an increased armada to
frustrate the whaling effort.

The level of intrigue has increased substantially this year, as
Capt. Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd has become an international
fugitive and Sea Shepherd finds itself under a U.S. court order to
maintain a safe distance from the Japanese fleet.

Even the television show “Whale Wars” could be different this
year, as Sea Shepherd has hired its own camera crew. That move has
left network executives at Animal Planet somewhat uncertain about
the upcoming sixth season of the show.

Japan’s Kyodo
News reported that the Japanese “research whaling fleet” left
the Shimonoseki Port in Western Japan last Friday. The Japan
Times reported that the Japanese Fisheries Agency has
authorized a take of up to 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales this
year.

Sea Shepherd crews departed for the Southern Ocean in
mid-December with four vessels, including the latest addition — the
184-foot SSS Sam Simon, a former Japanese government vessel once
used for meteorological research. The formidable ship, which has a
hull strengthened for ice, was purchased for Sea Shepherd by the
co-creator of “The Simpsons.” Read more in
Sea Shepherd’s news release.

Meanwhile, Sea Shepherd’s leader, Paul Watson, was arrested in
Frankfort, Germany, last May on charges relating to an incident in
Central America in 2002. He was released on bail but failed to
check in the following month, as required by conditions of his
release. Siobhan Dowling reported on the incident for
The Guardian.

In December, Paul told
Associated Press reporter Manuel Valdes that he wanted to stay
at sea. He contends that the Costa Rican government was pressured
by Japan to seek his extradition.

“I want to stay in the ocean. I’m not going to be able to do
that from some holding cell in Japan,” Watson, who now has no
passport, was quoted as saying.

On Dec. 13, the U.S. State Department issued a joint
statement with the governments of Australia, the Netherlands
and New Zealand calling for vessels in the Southern Ocean to
observe international collision-avoidance rules:

“We are deeply concerned that confrontations in the Southern
Ocean will eventually lead to injury or loss of life among
protestors, many of whom are nationals of our countries, and
whaling crews…

“We remain resolute in our opposition to commercial whaling,
including so-called ‘scientific’ whaling, in particular in the
Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary established by the International
Whaling Commission, and are disappointed about the recent departure
of the Japanese whaling fleet for the Southern Ocean.”

“We at Sea Shepherd have no problem with this. We haven’t
sustained any serious injury nor have we caused any injury at sea
in 33 years and certainly not in the last six voyages to the
Southern Ocean.

“What the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society welcomes, however,
is the fact that the statement issued by the four nations clearly
condemns the illegal whaling activities of the Japanese whaling
fleet. This statement validates and encourages Sea Shepherd
intervention during Operation No Compromise this year.”

But Sea Shepherd faced a new turn of events on Dec. 17, when the
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a preliminary injunction
prohibiting Sea Shepherd — and Paul Watson specifically — from
“physically attacking” the Japanese whaling fleet or from
“navigating in a manner that is likely to endanger the safe
navigation of any such vessel.”

The order (PDF 37 kb) prohibits Sea Shepherd from getting any
closer than 500 yards to the Japanese ships. The injunction will
remain in effect until a final ruling is issued by the U.S.
District Court, which could come about the end of this year.

A well-written analysis of the hearing before the Court of
Appeals was provided by June Williams of Courthouse
News Service. An audio
recording of the lively hearing is available from the Ninth
Circuit’s website.

“It looks like the Japanese whaling fleet is ready to rumble,”
Watson responded in a
written commentary issued the same day the injunction was
announced. He continued:

“It is a complex situation whereby a United States court is
issuing an injunction against Dutch and Australian vessels carrying
an international crew, operating out of Australia and New Zealand
in international waters and the waters of the Australian Antarctic
Economic Zone. In addition, the court has ignored the fact that the
Japanese whalers are in contempt of a court order by the Australian
Federal Court and the whaling takes place in the Southern Ocean
Whale Sanctuary.

“We will defend these whales as we have for the last eight years
– non-violently and legally.”

So now the stage is set for another confrontation in the
Southern Ocean. As the whaling season goes on, we’ll get the usual
conflicting news releases from Sea Shepherd and the Japanese
whalers. But how the events are portrayed on the television program
“Whale Wars” may be influenced by a change in film crew.

Before the ships’ departure, Sea Shepherd advertised for its own
film crew to replace an independent crew previously used by Animal
Planet. Officials with the network confirmed to me that they do not
have a film crew on board at this time.

How this will play out for the show “Whale Wars” is yet to be
seen, but Sea Shepherd apparently intends to provide footage to the
show’s producers.

Animal Planet spokesman Brian Eley told me that the network
plans to air a sixth season of “Whale Wars,” but the two parties
are still working out some critical details. Animal Planet owns the
name “Whale Wars,” the show’s format and everything that goes with
it.

The program is important to both organizations. “Whale Wars”
helped transform Animal Planet from a children’s channel to an
adult network, and the program has served the goals of Sea Shepherd
almost beyond belief.

Brian said it is important to Animal Planet to maintain
editorial control over “Whale Wars” with a documentary format and a
“neutral point of view.”

“Every year, there are certain things that they (Sea Shepherd
officials) disagree with over how we portray them,” he said. “But
we have a good relationship with them, and I think people like the
show the way it is.”

Brian did not seem to think it was too late to get an
independent film crew on board, which would be the preference of
Animal Planet executives.

He concurred that this was a “banner year for legality” facing
Sea Shepherd, but Animal Planet is not caught up in that drama. The
network has been careful to simply document the group’s activities,
he said, not influence what the group does or does not do.